Taylor Meeks
Contributor to The Bengal
It’s Tuesday morning. We just finished our morning practice session, showered, loaded our bags onto the bus and taken off for the long road trip ahead. It’s over an eight-hour drive to Greeley, Colorado, where the Big Sky Conference volleyball tournament was hosted this year. We finished as the fifth seed in regular season, so we played Sacramento State at ten in the morning on Thursday, the same day as Thanksgiving.
Since I have been playing volleyball at ISU, this is the first time the tournament has occurred over Thanksgiving break, making it less stressful to travel. I don’t have to worry about missing classes, lectures or valuable material. I don’t have to make prior arrangements with my professors to make up exams, assignments or missed material. My focus is on playing my best volleyball for three games in a row.
Typically, when traveling, we leave on a Wednesday morning and we don’t return home until Sunday. It’s either by plane or by bus, depending on the location. We fly for most of our preseason tournaments and some of our conference games. We bus to nearby locations, such as Weber State or Montana.
The longest and hardest trip we take every year is when we bus to Southern Utah (SUU) and Northern Arizona (NAU). We left at six in the morning Wednesday and didn’t return until late Sunday evening. I have to communicate extremely well with my professors and fellow classmates to make sure I have all of my assignments in order or to make up assignments prior to my absence.
When I signed my National Letter of Intent to play collegiate volleyball, I wasn’t fully aware of the responsibilities that came with the contract. Of course, I have played sports all of my life, but never at this high of a level of athletics or academics. One of the aspects that I wasn’t completely prepared for was the extensive travel schedule.
The volleyball team is constantly on the go once the fall season begins. We start our season with four weeks of preseason tournaments. Then, conference play kicks off and we battle most conference teams twice over a two-month period. If I don’t stay on top of my academics, traveling can become stressful.
The hardest part about traveling during the fall season is you miss a lot of classes, therefore, meaning you miss out on learning. My professors have always been helpful in working with me, but I still find myself constantly stressing out. I have to repeatedly check Moodle, keep an updated planner with upcoming tests and assignments, communicate via email with my professors and classmates, and take advantage of the study hall time allotted to us on the long trips.
Although schoolwork and missing classes can make traveling stressful, there have been several trips this season that have been incredibly fun. This season, my favorite trips were when we went to Seattle, Denver and the Big Sky tournament. On these trips, we were able to do other things other than volleyball, such as Top Golf, eat ice cream, go shopping and visit with our family.
My team and I have conquered incredible feats this season. We started off conference play undefeated with a 4-0 record, including an especially huge win over NAU in Flagstaff. We defied the Big Sky coaches’ poll to finish as fifth seed and make it to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Abby Garrity, Haylie Keck and Brooke Pehrson had outstanding accolades. We did all of this as one united and loving family.
In the first round, we defeated Sacramento State in a long four-set battle, advancing us to the semifinals where we faced NAU. After a hard-fought battle, we fell to the Lumberjacks in three sets, concluding our season. Losing is not an easy pill to swallow when being Big Sky Champions was what we were working for all season.
Reflecting on the 2018 volleyball season, I have to say that this has been my favorite season so far. From the beginning of the spring season to the end of the fall season, the journey with my teammates has been memorable, special and different from the past seasons I have experienced. Being on a team that you can consider your second family is difficult to describe to others who aren’t a part of it. It’s an experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
